The Florida Panthers’ prospect pipeline got a modest bump in The Athletic’s latest NHL rankings, landing at 27th after sitting 29th a year ago. That’s not exactly a tidal wave of talent, but it does point to a system with a few real pieces at the top and enough depth to keep things interesting.
Corey Pronman’s read on the group was pretty clear: Florida doesn’t have a stacked farm system, but it does have some useful young forwards, led by Sandis Vilmanis and Simas Ignatavicius. Beyond that, the Panthers have a handful of middle-round picks who still have a shot to make it to the NHL.
Vilmanis sits at the top of the list, and the case for him is built on a strong all-around season. The 23-year-old left wing was productive in the AHL, held his own with Latvia’s senior team, and got extended time with Florida.
Pronman described him as a fast, competitive winger who helps in both zones, wins plenty of puck battles and keeps himself around the play. He’s not a flashy creator, but he can make things happen by going straight at defenders.
Pronman projects him as a middle-six winger.
Ignatavicius comes in next, and the profile is a little different. The 18-year-old right wing, a U.S.-born player of Lithuanian descent, has already played for Lithuania’s senior national team and at the pro level in Switzerland.
At 6-foot-3 and 198 pounds, he brings size and speed, plus very good hands. Pronman called him a legit NHL prospect, noting that his toolkit is strong enough that even a minor concern about his compete level doesn’t knock him off a middle-six projection.
Florida also has a pair of younger forwards in Ryder Cali and Mads Kongsbak Klyvø who fit the same general theme: direct, useful, and not overflowing with high-end flash. Cali, one of the youngest players eligible for the 2026 draft, is a 6-foot-2 center with NHL-level foot speed and hands who attacks with speed and gets pucks to the net.
Pronman sees him as a bottom-six winger. Klyvø, a 2025 pick, is a bigger left wing who skates well, has good hands and a strong wrist shot, and can kill penalties and lean into physical play.
His hockey sense is below NHL average, but there’s still a path to a bottom-six role.
In goal, Tyler Muszelik and Olof Glifford both made the list. Muszelik, a 6-foot-2 netminder drafted in 2022, had a very good season in Hockey East and showed more quickness and tougher-save ability than he had before.
Pronman likes his size and sense and believes he has a good chance to become an NHL backup. Glifford, a much bigger goalie at 6-foot-4, split starts in the Allsvenskan and showed the kind of hockey sense that lets him square up pucks and handle the dangerous areas.
The concern is his side-to-side quickness, which could get exposed at higher levels.
The rest of the top eight keeps the emphasis on workers and role players. Linus Eriksson, a 2024 second-rounder, is the kind of center coaches trust because he plays a reliable two-way game and works hard.
He may never pop offensively, but he could develop into a fourth-line center. Shea Busch, meanwhile, missed most of the season with injury but still managed 13 goals in 12 WHL games when healthy.
He’s a big, physical winger who plays with an edge, though his skating remains the biggest hurdle.
Outside the Panthers’ prospect picture, the Philadelphia Flyers signed defenseman Hunter McDonald to a two-year, $1.825 million contract. The deal becomes one-way in the second year. McDonald, 24, played 65 AHL games for Lehigh Valley last season, recording six assists and 92 penalty minutes, and also made his NHL debut, picking up an assist.
The Buffalo Sabres also made a move, trading prospect forward Stiven Sardarian to the Carolina Hurricanes for future considerations. Sardarian, 23, was selected 88th overall by Buffalo in 2021 and was assigned to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL after the trade.
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For a team that has spent much of the past few seasons trying to stay at the top of the Eastern Conference picture, the message was clear: standing still was not an option. The scale of the deal alone put Florida under a brighter spotlight than usual, and the rest of the summer only sharpened the sense that Zito was betting big on another push, even if the full cost of that gamble will be talked about for a while. [Read more 🡒]
NHL 27 Just Gave Panthers Fans A New Roster Debate
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The ratings also underscored the kind of forward depth that has made Florida such a tough team to game-plan for, with several other Panthers landing in the 80s. Of course, rankings in a video game do not settle real-world arguments, and that is where the fun starts for fans who will spend the next few months debating whether the numbers fully capture how dangerous this group really is. [Read more 🡒]